The all things EV chat thread

[Deleted member 21784]

I have a Honda Civic e-HEV. It looks quite nice - much less aggressive looking than the previous recent iterations of Civic’s. Bought it new in September as a second car but turns out I now use this as my main car. Golf clubs fit in the boot. Size wise it’s deceiving internally with plenty of space for passengers. It has very good spec and driving it is enjoyable. Really pleased with it. Decent option for some in the market for a hatchback with space.

For me Honda kick butt at boot space. They know golf is important!!!

 

[Fromtherough]

For me Honda kick butt at boot space. They know golf is important!!!

I’m one of those saddos who takes my clubs with me when test driving cars.

 

[cliveb]

A number of posters on here have been saying that self charging hybrids are good, but plugin hybrids are not.

Please can someone explain the reasoning behind this? If you're going to have both ICE and EV components in your car, surely the ability to plug it in is a benefit? What's the downside? Is it simply that plugins tend to have bigger batteries and therefore are heavier?

The argument that lots of people don't plug them in is irrelevant. That's their (bad) choice. Nothing to stop someone being sensible and using them as intended (provided they can charge at home, of course - public EV charging is still WAY too expensive).

 

[Arthur Wedge]

A number of posters on here have been saying that self charging hybrids are good, but plugin hybrids are not.

Please can someone explain the reasoning behind this? If you're going to have both ICE and EV components in your car, surely the ability to plug it in is a benefit? What's the downside? Is it simply that plugins tend to have bigger batteries and therefore are heavier?

The argument that lots of people don't plug them in is irrelevant. That's their (bad) choice. Nothing to stop someone being sensible and using them as intended (provided they can charge at home, of course - public EV charging is still WAY too expensive).

Doesn’t a plug in hybrid only have about 80 miles range ?

Doesn’t seem to be too many benefits of a plug hybrid over self charging or full EV

 

[Deleted member 21784]

I’m one of those saddos who takes my clubs with me when test driving cars.

I don't normally but for the niro I took 3 car seats and my clubs

If the car seats could fit in and the clubs in the boot I would order

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Doesn’t a plug in hybrid only have about 80 miles range ?

Doesn’t seem to be too many benefits of a plug hybrid over self charging or full EV

They wish. The average is about 25 miles as far as I remember. That's a theoretical 25 miles.

@cliveb - most drivers of these cars are company car drivers as the company car tax system has pushed them down that route. However, many of those will get free fuel and so don't care about plugging them in. You will also find companies not covering the home charging bill as they may decide it is too complicated to separate charging from regular electricity usage. You are therefore left with a very heavy battery weighing down the car and engine. Real world economy on these is less than a petrol only version once you remove the electric only element which if you are not charging doesn't exist.

In terms of a private buyer, they are more expensive than a self charging car and so will you see the benefits? Will you ever catch up the gap? The low uptake of these types of cars suggest not. They have not taken off in the same way the self charging cars have, have you seen how many Toyota Corolla's there are? All those taxi drivers might be onto something.

 

[AliMc]

I’m not complaining. I’m refusing to drive it.

Exactly mate, stick to your ice BM's

 

[cliveb]

They wish. The average is about 25 miles as far as I remember. That's a theoretical 25 miles.

@cliveb - most drivers of these cars are company car drivers as the company car tax system has pushed them down that route. However, many of those will get free fuel and so don't care about plugging them in. You will also find companies not covering the home charging bill as they may decide it is too complicated to separate charging from regular electricity usage. You are therefore left with a very heavy battery weighing down the car and engine. Real world economy on these is less than a petrol only version once you remove the electric only element which if you are not charging doesn't exist.

In terms of a private buyer, they are more expensive than a self charging car and so will you see the benefits? Will you ever catch up the gap? The low uptake of these types of cars suggest not. They have not taken off in the same way the self charging cars have, have you seen how many Toyota Corolla's there are? All those taxi drivers might be onto something.

So in practice the majority of plugins are being incorrectly used because they tend to be fleet cars where the cost of fuel is no of consequence to the driver.
In other words, government tax rules have resulted in yet another example of the law of unintended consequences.

You make a good point about whether a private buyer will ever recoup the extra cost, even if they do use the car sensibly and charge at home. Example: a Skoda Superb Sportline estate is £4350 more as a plugin. Suppose we can home charge for 7p/kWh and petrol is £1.40 a litre. That's near as dammit about 10p a mile cheaper. So to recoup the extra cost will require about 43,000 miles of electric-only driving. I agree that is unlikely to happen during the lifetime of the car.

 

[GreiginFife]

Exactly mate, stick to your ice BM's

New car was a direct, and difficult, toss up between the iX2 and the M235.

235 won only because the iX doesn’t come in Purple

 

[Captainron]

So in practice the majority of plugins are being incorrectly used because they tend to be fleet cars where the cost of fuel is no of consequence to the driver.
In other words, government tax rules have resulted in yet another example of the law of unintended consequences.

This. I have a plug in hybrid. Any electrical charge is done at my own expense. Fuel is on a card and I just pay for my private mileage at the HMRC prescribed rate.

I have charged it once to see what it delivered. Made a fair difference on overall economy but I paid for that myself. So not interested in doing that again.

MPG - not interested in how good or bad this is. If I go at 50 mpg or 10 mpg it costs me the same.

Main reason I got the Hybrid was for tax purposes. No way I was going EV because of the miles I do.

Use the system while I can

 

[Deleted member 21784]

This. I have a plug in hybrid. Any electrical charge is done at my own expense. Fuel is on a card and I just pay for my private mileage at the HMRC prescribed rate.

I have charged it once to see what it delivered. Made a fair difference on overall economy but I paid for that myself. So not interested in doing that again.

MPG - not interested in how good or bad this is. If I go at 50 mpg or 10 mpg it costs me the same.

Main reason I got the Hybrid was for tax purposes. No way I was going EV because of the miles I do.

Use the system while I can

Yeah the bik rate will force a lot of people away from this next time round by the looks . Electric will be at 9% in 2028 looks like hybrid 18%

 

[jim8flog]

413 pages of posts - none of which I have read as not previously interested in an EV. However with buying one on the horizon a question and apologies but I can't dig through 413 pages looking for the same sort of question and which I am sure will have been covered and answer given. At this point I know little to nothing about EVs fuel or otherwise (if that's even the correct terminology)

What sort of EV/Hybrid is generally suitable given we will regularly do 200mile drives from home to Sheffield; we do not have easy off-street parking at home and so charging would have to be from house to the roadside (across a pavement) or at a charging station on a main road maybe 75yds from our front door. We have off-street parking up north so could install a charging point there prior to returns and any local driving we do.

I do not model specifics but I bet a lot of that mileage is at higher speeds.

When checking a cars quoted range make sure you look at the range for the higher speed (as you would for an ICE car).

 

[Deleted member 21784]

I do not model specifics but I bet a lot of that mileage is at higher speeds.

When checking a cars quoted range make sure you look at the range for the higher speed (as you would for an ICE car).

When I drove in France I did 80mph on motorway (the limit) and it gave me about 220 miles range instead of 250

I Normally drive about 65 mph in England as I'm not in a rush and it's a good speed for the battery

 

[jim8flog]

When I drove in France I did 80mph on motorway (the limit) and it gave me about 220 miles range instead of 250

I Normally drive about 65 mph in England as I'm not in a rush and it's a good speed for the battery

I will not admit to the speeds I do but I reckoned I was about 75% range compared to driving around town. There is very little recharge when using motorways and dual carriageways.

 

[Deleted member 21784]

I will not admit to the speeds I do but I reckoned I was about 75% range compared to driving around town. There is very little recharge when using motorways and dual carriageways.

I let the cruise control regulate the speed which does a lot of coasting

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I let the cruise control regulate the speed which does a lot of coasting

We use cruise control at 70mph for much of the journey as it is majorly M40, M69, M1

 

[Deleted member 35927]

Saw an i7 at the golf club, that thing is at least 80% grill

 

[Slime]

Saw an i7 at the golf club, that thing is at least 80% grill

The first time I saw one of those in my rear view mirror I thought I was being chased by the world's largest and ugliest beaver!

 

[road2ruin]

The first time I saw one of those in my rear view mirror I thought I was being chased by the world's largest and ugliest beaver!

One of the parents has gone one at our nursery, never seen one before and couldn't quite get over its size. It's the full loaded model, had a look on the BMW website and it's north of £165,000!!

 

[Deleted member 35927]

Happy free for the rest of the year day all EV owners! Although TBF it's was probs march or something for octopus customers

By this date, the average petrol or diesel car driver has already spent as much on fuel this year as an EV driver will spend on electricity for the entire year.